The unit, with about 97 acres (39 ha) of land, is located 4 miles (6.4 km) north of central Gatesville on Farm to Market Road 215.

As of October 11, 2019, Amber Guyger, the former Dallas Police Department officer convicted of the murder of Botham Jean, is serving her sentence at the facility.

[7] In 2024, the prison was renamed the Patrick O'Daniel Unit following a unanimous vote from the Texas Board of Criminal Justice the previous December.

[8] The prison was renamed to honor former Texas Board of Criminal Justice chairman of the same name, of whom served that position from 2020 to 2023.

[10] Ruth Hill of The Observer described the unit as "intimidating", saying that the "bunker-like buildings are punctuated with slit windows and wreathed in wire, with guard towers on every corner".

[13] The women's death row is located in a red-brick, one-story building that first opened in 1985 to house psychiatric patients.

The doors use traditional bars, unlike the men's death row at the Polunsky Unit near Livingston, Texas.

[14] Amy Dorsett of the San Antonio Express-News said that the facility has "gleaming white walls, sun-filled cells, and a decorative recreation room".

[14] From the early 1980s to 2000, condemned women were housed in an eight-cell building with an immediately adjacent, combined day room and work area.